Tribune investigation leads to crash probe

Gang member admits on tape to causing fatal collision

Erica Barrera was speeding down the street when she suddenly veered right and slammed head-on into a light pole, cutting the car in half and killing herself and three passengers.

Chicago police quickly dismissed the crash as a single-car accident and faulted Barrera, who had been partying and was legally intoxicated.

But a Tribune investigation has raised questions about whether the February 2006 crash was an accident at all, or whether it was, in fact, a gang-related quadruple homicide. The weapon may have been a sport-utility vehicle, which some Hispanic gangs use to deliberately ram and kill rivals driving through their turf.

The Cook County state's attorney's office opened an investigation into the crash after the Tribune began to ask questions about it earlier this month.

Law-enforcement records show that a federal informant had secretly recorded a gang member as he confessed to purposely chasing and ramming Barrera's car into the pole. In addition, a witness who was driving near the scene now says two cars -- not just one, as he originally told police -- sped by him moments before the crash. And Chicago police noted at the time that an SUV was seen fleeing from the crash site.

The recorded confession came three days after Barrera crashed a rented Chevrolet Malibu on Kedzie Avenue near 51st Street with such force that one passenger was thrown more than 60 feet.

Confession kept secret

Federal authorities waited a year and a half before bringing the confession to the attention of local prosecutors, who did not open an investigation.

Authorities also kept the confession secret from the families of the dead and the four crash survivors because it was part of a covert investigation. Barrera's father, Ray, was incensed when he recently learned of the confession from the Tribune.

"How come this was never revealed?" said Barrera, 57, who now cares for his only daughter's three young children. "I mean all the hardship that's been put on everybody. ... This is two years now, and they've kept this away from everyone."

Federal authorities were investigating narcotics trafficking by the Latin Kings when the gang member made the stunning confession about ramming Barrera's vehicle, according to a confidential Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives memorandum reviewed by the Tribune. The admission was tape-recorded by an informant working undercover for the ATF.

The gang member, identified in the ATF report only as "Ace," told the informant he was in an SUV carrying other Latin Kings when they spotted Barrera's car traveling on Kedzie. When the Latin Kings flashed gang signs, a male passenger in Barrera's vehicle showed the sign of the rival Ambrose street gang, Ace said. Three occupants in that car were reputed Ambrose members.

"Ace stated that they then started to chase the Malibu at a high rate of speed, at which time the Suburban hit the Malibu, causing it to crash," the two-page ATF report said. "Ace further stated that he observed the car split in half and observed the bodies on the ground.

"Ace asked the [informant] not to mention the accident to anyone," the report said. "Ace stated in part, 'This is a conspiracy to commit murder.'"

Authorities have declined to identify Ace.

Gang experts say the Latin Kings and other gangs sometimes customize SUVs with oversized tires and a meaty front grill and use them to strike other vehicles carrying rival gang members.

ATF spokesman Thomas Ahern said federal agents took the recorded confession to the Cook County state's attorney's office in August 2007 -- 18 months after the crash. But the office declined to investigate because the undercover tape "didn't match the witnesses' statements, including those who survived the accident," Ahern said.

John Gorman, spokesman for the state's attorney's office, said that at the time neither the ATF nor Chicago police pushed for charges to be filed. Since being contacted by the Tribune, the office has interviewed at least two crash survivors and one witness, Gorman said. Authorities so far have been unable to corroborate testimony about the ramming incident, but the investigation is continuing, he said.

The stories of the survivors and a witness are contradictory and add to the confusion about how Barrera ended up hitting the light pole. The crash occurred about 3:30 a.m., leaving few witnesses for police to interview.

According to a police report, investigators spoke to all four survivors while they were undergoing treatment in hospital emergency rooms. Each said Barrera was speeding and driving recklessly. None reported spotting a second vehicle or being rammed, the report said.